The problem won't go away if we use XML over POD. Both formats are display orientated, not data oriented. XML doesn't have to be, but in this context it is. There are other ways to do do this. We, the community, could impose a standard, which won't work. We could also build on the POD test suites.

I actually discovered these last weekend after using Module::Starter::PBP for the fist time. All the sudden I had 14 failues. Once I figured out that there were POD test suites in there, I got the motivation to finish up my documentation.

Test driven development works for developers because we can see what we have accomplished, and what we have left to do. In fact tests help us remember that we're not done yet. The same works for a certain class of POD, too. Why not extend it?